The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Collins)

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes  (A Hunger Games Novel)
Suzanne Collins, 2020 
Scholastic Press
528 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781338635171


Summary
Revisiting the world of Panem sixty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Tenth Hunger Games.

—Ambition will fuel him.
—Competition will drive him.
—But power has its price.

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games.

The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined—every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin.

Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute—and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—August 10, 1962
• Where—Hartford, Connecticut, USA
• Education—B.A., Indiana University; M.F.A., New York University
• Currently—lives in Connecticut

Collins's career began in 1991 as a writer for children's television shows. She worked on several television shows for Nickelodeon, including Clarissa Explains It All, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, Little Bear, and Oswald. She was also the head writer for Scholastic Entertainment's Clifford's Puppy Days. She received a Writers Guild of America nomination in animation for co-writing the critically acclaimed Christmas special, Santa, Baby!

After meeting children's author James Proimos while working on the Kids' WB show Generation O!, Collins was inspired to write children's books herself. Her inspiration for Gregor the Overlander, the first book of the best selling series "The Underland Chronicles," came from Alice in Wonderland, when she was thinking about how one was more likely to fall down a manhole than a rabbit hole, and would find something other than a tea party.

Between 2003 and 2007 she wrote the five books of the "Underland Chronicles": Gregor the Overlander, Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, Gregor and the Marks of Secret, and Gregor and the Code of Claw. During that time, Collins also wrote a rhyming picture book illustrated by Mike Lester entitled When Charlie McButton Lost Power (2005).

In September 2008 Scholastic Press released the The Hunger Games, the first book of a new trilogy by Collins. The Hunger Games was partly inspired by the Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Another inspiration was her father's career in the Air Force, which allowed her to better understand poverty, starvation, and the effects of war.

This was followed by the novel's 2009 sequel, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay in 2010. In just 14 months, 1.5 million copies of the first two "Hunger Games" books have been printed in North America alone. The Hunger Games has been on the New York Times Best Seller list for more than 60 weeks in a row. Collins was named one of Time magazine's most influential people of 2010.

Collins earned her M.F.A. from New York University in Dramatic Writing. She now lives in Connecticut with her husband, their two children, and 2 adopted feral kittens. (From Wikipedia.)

Book Reviews
As much as this is Coriolanus's origin story, it is an origin story for the Games themselves, an answer to the question… posed by Katniss in Mockingjay…: "Did a group of people sit around and cast their votes on initiating the Hunger Games?"… People who love finding out the back stories in fictional universes—why Sherlock Holmes wears a deerstalker hat… will relish the chance to learn these details.
Sarah Lyall - New York Times


Readers who loved the moral ambiguity, crisp writing and ruthless pacing of the first three books might be less interested in an overworked parable about the value of Enlightenment thinking.… It's the sheer obviousness that drags, the way that we know what the right answer is supposed to be.
NPR


For true fans of The Hunger Games, Collins shines most as she weaves in tantalizing details that lend depth to the gruesome world she created in the original series and Coriolanus’s place in its history.
Time


The prequel is stranger than its predecessors, and funnier, overlong, dangerously goofy.…  The storytelling itself trends desperate at times. Chapters close on violent cliffhangers that edge into parody….  Collins still has a gift for horrorshow scene-setting…. [A] major work with major flaws, but it sure gives you a lot to chew on.
Entainment Weekly


[An] unflinching exploration of power and morality…. A gripping mix of whipsaw plot twists and propulsive writing make this story's complex issues—vulnerability and abuse, personal responsibility, and institutionalized power dynamics—vivid and personal.
Publishers Weekly


Collins humanizes [Coriolanus Snow] as superficially heroic and emotionally relatable… resulting in both a tense, character-driven piece and a cautionary tale.… The twists and heartbreaks captivate despite tragic inevitabilities.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
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